Cross The Frontier

-Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!

Location:Phoenix

The basketball team is in the midst of there toughest day. Sunday night they played in front of 1000 fans in downtown Coyuca. Monday night they had 2 games as part of the tournament in Los Bajos. At the time of this writing (11am local time), they are playing inside the maximum security prison in Acapulco. We are told that prisoners with basketball skills have been transferred in to Acapulco for the past several months. Tonight they will be back in Los Bajos for the final game of the tournament against the local regional champs.

Tomorrow is a fun in the sun day for most of our team members before flying out on Thursday.

-Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!

Location:Costera Miguel Alemán,Acapulco,Mexico

Garrett Thomas will be a senior this coming season for the Oklahoma State University Cowboys. He is in his second season for our mission all-star team.

“Playing is fine, but I love these kids. I mean, this is a big deal for them; getting a t-shirt and being around players. It makes me really thankful for what I’ve got.”

No matter what Garret does with his basketball career, he will never achieve the popularity that he has in Mexico. His love for the children he works with is mutual.

-Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!

Nicknames are abundant in basketball: the Glide, the Dream, and His Airness come to mind. Meet the Bloke. 16 year old Daniel Myers of South Hampton, England is the youngest,

smallest and least experienced of our basketball players, but was the first to get a nickname. The Bloke appreciates the abilities of his teammates and he hopes to take back some better game awareness from his time in Mexico.

Daniel and his father, Keith, have been planning this trip for at least 6 months. They had talked about doing a mission trip, but when they discovered that basketball would be a part of this, it made the decision much easier. He is glad that he is here and getting to be involved in people’s lives.

-Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!

Renacimiento

Our VBS team wrapped up their work in this location. There will be many children sorry to see them go. The team has moved on to Coyuca where they are helping out with various ministries.

Basketball

Someone has estimated the crowd at around 1000 for last night’s tip off in

Coyuca. Our team played a local all star team and won decisively. Tonight is the start of the tournament in Los Bajos and on Tuesday, they will play in the prison at Acapulco. Pray for them to stay free of injury.

Prison

Although the basketball team will play at the prison on Tuesday, the primary workers have gone back to the US. They leave nearly

300 new believers in the prison. The prisoner led church will be working to disciple them.

Pray as we turn the corner into this home stretch, we would continue to see God’s blessing and provision.

Listen as Erica Horton, an Arizona State senior from The Church At Arrowhead, describes her experience sharing Christ in Acapulco.

-Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!

It was a great day. One to remember for how God was at work. I took an 8 am bus ride from Coyuca to downtown Acapulco. It was a good mile or so walk to the main bus route and a welcome cup of coffee. After working on the website and catching up on emails, I took another bus up over the mountain to the prison.

Bill, Rob and I went over the message and made our way through the numerous gates and ID checks. The prisoners were waiting at the covered sports pavilion. The band of prison believers was on fire and led in worship. Bill gave his testimony and a prisoner who is not a Christian translated. Bill was very pleases as the translator had many spiritual questions. I translated for Rob who gave a very straight forward message.

I did not realize how good the day was until later as the day before was “one of those days” when things did not go well. We do not always have great days but thank God for the ones we get!

-Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!

Ernesto is the prisoner/pastor in the Acapulco prison. He was a “hombre mall” before going to prison 10 years ago and coming to know Christ. He has served as a pastor the past 6 years and is facing another 40. Pray for his leadership and ministry. He is content with his ministry which is similar to that of any other pastor. When a man or woman (the prison’s population consists of 2300 men, 200 women and about 150 children who live with there mothers until they are 6 years old) says they want ti follow Christ, Ernesto has them go through a 6 or 7 month discipleship. The only time he appeared to be sad was when he said, “I have such a heavy load. If they are not grounded in God’s word before they leave, they will be back and not be able to lead their families in the way of the Lord.” -Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!

The boys’ basketball clinic was a great success this afternoon.

One of the things that is obvious is the respect that the boys have for their coaches. Sure, the coaches are tall and athletic and sound funny when they talk, but it goes beyond that. The coaches care and the boys know it!

Saturday ends the clinic portion of the trip. Pray for the boys and girls to have a real response as the gospel is shared.

-Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!

Leticia and Orlando are two of the most reserved people you would ever want to meet, until you start talking about what makes them tick. Like God, people and soccer. They are church planters in Los Bajos, near Coyuca, Mexico. Our team has worked with them and their church for several years. Seeing how successfull it was to incoporate sports into ministry, they have gone a little bit further. They began providing meals for the children of the neighborhood and that grew from 15 to near 40 today. As they fed them and got to know them, they saw the need for some good organized fun. Orlando is busy as a bivocational pastor, so Leticia has taken up the role of coach. That is very unusual in Latin America, but she is doing  it.  The children make no mistake, they know who the entrenadora or coach is. They also know that she loves them and is providing a great ministry to them.

While we were there, one of the better players got a yellow card. He then smarted off to the ref and got a red card. Leticia and Olrando handled it like pros. They told the boy that this was a chance to learn a lesson. Thank God for Leticia and her team and their chance to learn valuable lessons.

-Please Pardon the Errors…Written On a Small Keyboard!